The Other Variable
by fakeasain56
Summary: AU - In a world where Bruce Banner decided to hide his smarts from the world, Tony Stark realizes just how smart he is. It's hide versus strut, and only one can win. TW: Past Child Abuse
1. Chapter 1

Bruce Banner is a very, very smart man. In one universe, he was so smart as to be flattered by the military to help them create a way of making super-soldiers. There the experiments backfired, and he was turned into a raging monster. In another universe he managed to separate himself from the Hulk, reverted back as a child without sight, seeing only through the Hulk.

There were a hundred thousand possibilities that Banner could have taken, a hundred thousand paths.

Bruce Banner in this universe remembered something though.

_He clung to his little stuffed toy, looking up at his mom with too wide eyes as he shivered and trembled. A splotchy bruise was beginning to form, right across his cheek. His momma looked worse- she was hunched over slightly, face twisted in pain. "Mommy?"_

_"Oh honey… Can't you pretend?"_

_He stared at her in confusion, eyes dark and uncomprehending. He was seven, and didn't understand the full intricacies of people, even if he could build a model meant for a fourteen year old. "Pretend what?"_

_"Pretend you aren't so smart."_

* * *

Bruce Banner was a very smart man; you'd never guess from his grades. His grades were solid A's and B's, he was not valedictorian, no genius. Nobody bothered giving him an IQ test (even if they did Bruce knew perfectly how to answer falsely) and Bruce didn't let anyone think differently.

All notes that could possibly state otherwise were carefully stashed away where nobody could see them, as he plodded along in his life of dull mediocrity. He was fine. Perfectly fine. (Nobody had to know that sometimes he watched Tony Stark and Reed Richards and wondered how well his brain would go against them)

It wasn't like he wanted to strut (lie) but he knew what would happen if he did (bad things) and even if his mind seemed empty some days, it wasn't anything worth noticing (mixed emotions).

That was why Bruce Banner at the tender age of forty, found himself in Stark Expo, browsing the stalls.

Nobody could resist the Expo, absolutely nobody. So Bruce found himself finishing up research (he knew the answers, and was simply going through the motions, no need for anyone to know what he was researching on the side- or how far ahead he was) in order to get to the expo on time, so that way he could wander the booths.

The highlight of this particular expo, other then Iron Man himself, was the debut of a giant screen- in front of it you could write messages on a tablet and have them projected onto the big screen to flash and show off- previous messages floated around, curling around booths in floating letters at least five years ahead of any other company.

Bruce padded through the stalls, honing in on the radiation theory ones, curiosity growing- There were ones about a new element, ones about gamma radiation. He scoffed quietly at them, and scrawled a note on a piece of paper; slipping it among the other papers- nobody could possibly recognize him from out of such a big crowd.

It was time to be as smart and geeky as he wanted, and look! No bad consequences because nobody could recognize him!

Bruce grinned like a kid set loose in a candy store, or a child genius set loose among a workshop, and practically skipped along the booths, drinking in the sights.

Stark Expo drew scientists from all over the world- only Pym Company didn't register anything, and the leader of the Fantastic Four was one of the few groups that didn't enter in anything- partially because they were currently traveling to who-knows-where.

Bruce shoved the thoughts out of his head to concentrate on the technology before him. It was impressive really- impressive that they hadn't blown themselves up. The equation they were using to calculate the force was all wrong, and it was only by fluke they had managed to make it not so nasty.

He scribbled the correct equation on a slip of paper, slipped it among the paper, and walked off.

There it was- the cream of the Expo- for one day only, Tony Stark was going to talk about the Arc Reactor. It wasn't the personalized one in his chest, but the major one that powered his tower.

Bruce drifted close to one of the speakers, listening carefully to it, scribbling down notes quickly at all of the salient points, nodding every now and then.

"-powered by palladium-"

Bruce frowned, pen pausing. Palladium? Surely not. That was poisonous, wasn't it?

Bruce flipped the paper over, scribbling quickly. The equations he had created to figure out whether an element was poisonous to a human body, and just how poisonous it could be danced across the paper, filling his mind.

First was the element itself, broken down to the very molecules. Each of those molecules were assigned a weight and the ability to move, how well they interacted with other molecules. Then came the skin. The weight. Tony Stark looked roughly near a hundred eighty pounds, so Bruce used that weight.

The weight was penciled in, and radiation penciled in beyond that. A human body could only take up to 500 of that other kind of radiation- Bruce had his own measurements, and sketched them into the corner. Point of reference established, Bruce returned his attention to the complicated equation slowly filling the entire page.

The pen continued scribbling, dancing across the page quietly and quickly, until nearly every square inch of it was covered.

Bruce stared down at the paper, nibbling at the end of his pen- Palladium was poisonous. Worse then poisonous- while the poison would be quick to leave once removed, the person near to it only had about six months to live if it was in constant contact with the Palladium.

He had to get this to Tony Stark. Or someone who could at least tell Tony Stark; he wasn't about to crack his carefully built facade. His eyes scanned the room, looking for something he could use, when his eyes fell on the giant projector.

* * *

Tony Stark stepped down from the podium, grinning wildly; now was the time to make his dashing exit out of the door…

His eyes saw it first. The most beautiful thing he had ever seen in a long time, the curves perfect. The smooth form was slick and perfectly proportioned. The numbers were perfectly formed, stacked and organized in a way that made sense to their owner and those smart enough to take it apart.

Tony Stark stopped dead. Stared up at the equation. Felt his heart twist a little as he sparsed out from the information that he was going to die within six months if he didn't change the Pallidam core reactor.

It was a good thing he already had- not that anyone else knew. Still, where was this guy several months ago when he actually needed this information?

"Jarvis, save that equation." He turned to the closest peon he was commanding, "Go find out who wrote that equation."

"Equation saved." Jarvis chimed helpfully as Tony Stark strode out without a backwards look. "What would you like me to do with this?"

"Send it to Richards and Pym. They probably know who it is."

The ride home was completely silent, Tony too distracted to reply as much of anything as Happy drove, casting him worried looks. The second the car pulled up to the Hotel in its glimmering, shimmering beauty, Tony was off and moving for his communicator.

Reed and Pym couldn't possibly ignore this.

He grinned as he entered his room, the communicator beeping shrilly. Oh did he _love_ being right!

"Yes Pym?"

"Stark, where did you get this? This isn't your work, you're not nearly so smart on the whole radiation theory!"

"Pym, calm down." Reed looked interested as well, so double score for Stark. "It isn't Tony's work, but it's not anyone's work I've seen."

"Really?" A frown briefly appeared on Tony's face. "You're joking, right? Surely this guy has published stuff before! I mean, I'm no authority on radiation, but-"

"Tony." Reed spoke calmly, matter-of-factly, "I may be the smartest man in the universe, but I don't study radiation either. I study physics. Radiation wise, Pym would be the next closest."

Pym and Stark glowered at each other, eyeing the other like they were about to jump out of the screen to strangle each other. Pym snarled, arms crossing. "I don't know. I keep an eye on radiation due to Pym particles, but that's about it. I am considered the top of radiation theory because of the Pym Particles."

Reed scoffed. "Hank?"

The man turned to glare at him, "What now Reed?"

"I know more about Pym Particles then you do."

Tony howled with laughter as Pym gaped openly at the screen. "Reed? It is on bitch."

"Oooh, you just got told Pym!"

"Shut up Tony. Reed, it is on. I hope that you're ready, because I'm going to invade your tower and drag you down to earth."

"Good luck with that." Reed smirked, before clicking off.

"Stark, don't laugh. Pym company is doing better then Stark company."

"HEY!"

The two clicked off, fires burning in their eyes. Tony shook his head- nobody would see either of them for the next five months. So that gave Tony Stark the next five months to invent something to sweep Stark company back to the top, all while tracking down and locating the new genius in radiation theory.

He loved being himself.

With a wild grin, he shut the communicator, and twisted in his seat to look directly at the men that entered, "Well, who put up the paper?"

"Well sir- We don't know."

"Have him- Wait, you don't know him? Why not?"

"We found a paper with the writing, but nothing else." The paper carefully enclosed in a plastic bag was passed over. Tony glowered at the bag.

"I hate puzzles. Puzzles are smashed into little pieces. Especially puzzles like this."

Tony glowered at the piece of paper. "Okay, time for analyzing time. Jarvis, but on your best Sherlock Holmes hat- we're going to go hunting."

If somebody was going to go through all of the trouble of warning him, then he might as well return the favor of hunting down the person, kidnapping them away to Stark Company where they could live the rest of their lives filthy rich and with enough equipment to make their little scientific mind weep in joy.

Several miles away Bruce Banner felt a very cold chill run down his back.


	2. Chapter 2

He preferred to be early to work. When he was early, he could use a few of the instruments before everyone else and advance in his own secret research. Nobody got up this early, unless they were there that late, and if so, then the lights alerted Bruce.

All lights off.

Bruce shouldered his bag as he proceeded into the building, nodding to the security guard. The security guard looked a little flustered, "M-Mister Banner!"

"Is something wrong Gordon?"

"Th-There was a strange man who came in earlier. He didn't have the right clearance so I told him he couldn't come in, but then he called the top dogs and they told me to let him in, and they should be here any minute."

Great. Just great. He should just turn around and go home, because there was no point of coming early if he wasn't going to be able to do any of his secret work. "I suppose I should go home early then."

"C-Could ya at least stay until the bigwigs get here? They said they'd be over as soon as possible, but the boss lives at least an hour out."

Gordon was a good man, that didn't ask many questions, and had a wife and kid. There was no earthly reason why he should get fired. Bruce on the other hand had at least fifteen years of hidden research he could publish and get by alright in the world on.

Bruce squared his shoulders, reminded himself that it wasn't like there wasn't going to be Tony Stark in the room, looking like the cat ate the canary. He had heard of the commotion over his equation, knew that people everywhere were analyzing it (it was rather flattering) and that others had found and pulled out their own equations where he had visited (doubly flattering to hear the crows of 'take that' on the internet).

He was still reassuring himself of this fact when the door slid open and the worlds third smartest man stood in the middle of the laboratory, reading _his _notes.

_Why world? Why oh why do you hate me? What have I done wrong against you?_

The world sniffed at him, and promptly vanished to play havoc with another alternate Bruce's life.

This Bruce attempted to smile as he said softly, "Please put down the papers Mr. Stark, before our company sues you for stealing."

"Hmm, oh this? Nah, not at all." Tony Stark leafed through the papers, squinting suspiciously at the notes. Bruce kept perfectly still. "You're here early, aren't you?"

"I wanted to do a few test runs. I'm usually this early."

"You'd think you'd have more to show of it, wouldn't you. You are Bruce Banner, right?"

"Yes, yes I am." Stark _knew his name_.

He felt it, as clean as a knife, the first crack in the mask he and his mother had created for him. Quickly he moved to close that crack before bitterness could pour out and swallow him whole. "What are you looking for? Not everyone here is a genius."

"Mmm." Stark looked directly at him. "So then, Bruce Banner, why did you leave me that message."

"What message?" His heart rate was slowly inching upwards- Bruce forced it down, forced himself to be calm.

"The one at the Expo. About the palladium."

"That wasn't me." Automatic, smooth- a touch too fast. Stark's eyes flashed, and Bruce pointed at his notes. "Does it look like I could make such a complex equation? Our booth was one of those hit by the guy as well."

He'd left it tucked away in amongst the papers. "Yes, yes, it's kind of odd… seeming how it was written on your company's papers. Well, papers with your company's watermark on them."

Tony Stark waved the paper with all of his equations in a plastic bag at him. Well, kind of waved it. It was also in a framing case. Clear. Firm. Water proof. Destruction proof.

In another universe he might've been flattered if he wasn't so _terrified _for his anonymity. He did still feel the slightest burst of happiness that someone liked his equation well enough to frame it.

"I got this saved on fifteen different hard drives right now. But still, the original notes? I like. I like a lot. I might take it into the shower with me one day."

"Don't you have anything else to do?" Bruce questioned carefully, skirting around Stark to head for his desk. Stark watched him scurry.

"Nope. Nothing for Iron Man to do then to figure out who my biggest fan is that they'd create an entirely new equation to tell me that my old core is poisonous."

Despite himself, Bruce was instantly and completely fascinated. "Old core?"

"Nope, not gonna dish it out except with the person who thought highly of me."

Bruce tasted blood on the inside of his mouth as he smiled back. "I see." He was also going to strangle the closest living thing when the boss finally came around to take Stark away. "May I have my notes back?"

Stark protectively tucked the piece of paper underneath his arm, giving him the biggest puppy eyes he had ever seen. "Noooo~ You can't take these away, I haven't even done half the dirty things I want too do with them!"

Some inner part cried out in the defense of his notes. The larger, more controlled part of him simply sighed as he pointed to the loose sheets of paper in his other hand. "I'm talking about those notes."

"Oh. These. Yeah, you can have them back." Stark waved his hand in Bruce's general direction. "Where's your other ones?"

In his bag. In a secret compartment. Not that Stark had to know. "There are no other ones."

Stark whined abjectly, "Don't lllllllliiiiiiieeeeeeeeee. I wants them! I must have them. My baby precious notes!" Nobody had ever told Bruce that Stark could whine like a three-year-old girl (or was that a fifteen-year-old) when properly riled up.

"Even if I was the one who made that equation, not that I am, why would I give my equations to you? You who could be considered my rival."

"But I'm not. I'm top of engineering and robotics, not radiation. Radiation can belong to someone else. Besides, I want someone to love and cuddle with."

Bruce's face squelched up at the thought of that much contact with a living person. He hadn't had that in several years. And with Tony Stark as well? Heavens help him, it's be like jumping into a whirlpool. Or jumping into a gamma bomb- He'd be taken apart slowly, before carelessly jumbled back together.

He shook himself out of his musings to grab his notes.

Stark took the opportunity to go pawing through his bag. With a rather girly shriek of his own, Banner grabbed it, and pulled back on his bag. "Thief!"

"What, no, you're obviously not going to tell me the truth, so I must seek it out for myself."

"You're insane!" Bruce snapped back, tugging hard on his bag again. "You came waltzing in here, stole my notes, and now you're trying to steal my bag! You're insane! That palladium scrambled your brain!"

"Hah! So it was you!"

"Wha- hey, what are you talking about? That note was posted all over, there's been news articles-"

"They're still trying to figure out what it means." Stark smirked; a hungry little grin that sent cold shivers up Bruce's spine. "Now then, anything else to confess?"

Bruce took a deep breath, trying to regain all of his emotions, smooth them down so that way he didn't explode and try to punch Stark out. "Give me back my bag Mister Stark, before I call the police."

Stark pouted, big puppy eyes once again rising to the top. Bruce brutally ignored them to yank his bag back, and shouldered it, glaring at the man. Stark sighed dramatically. "Why are you doing thiiisss? Don't you want to be famous?"

"No." _The raised hand, his mothers expectant flinch, the pain-_"It's better to be forgotten."

"MISTER STARK!"

Both started as the door slammed open, and the fat man tumbled in, mopping his brow. He smiled, grimy, greasy charm. "What brings you around to our labs? Banner, haven't you offered him drinks yet?"

Bruce ground out through gritted teeth, "Sorry sir, I was just trying to make sure that nothing of mine got stolen. I was going to offer as soon as I got him to a more comfortable place." He smiled, teeth bared at Stark.

Stark fluttered his eyelashes in response, smiling brilliantly back, "I won't steal anything of yours not worth stealing." _All I have to do is find what's worth stealing _went unspoken.

Bruce clenched his fists, took a deep breath, and offered as politely as he could, "Would you like anything to drink?"

"Coffee?"

"I'm sorry," He said as sincerely as he could (which wasn't very) "I only have tea."

Stark's mouth opened, closed, and opened again trying to figure out what to say next. "Alcohol?"

"There is no alcohol allowed on premise unless cleared by the director." Bruce gestured to the man, "So currently there is none."

Stark looked absolutely devastated.

Bruce: 1  
Stark: 0

"Okay then, fix me a cup of your best tea then, chop chop."

Banner hid his wince- his most expensive tea was shipped straight from India, and cost nearly an entire months paycheck. Chump change for Stark, but a salient point for Banner. "Of course."

Bruce: 1  
Stark: 2 (because now he's going have to go without food to afford his tea)

He pulled out the small kettle stored beneath his desk, plugged it into the wall, and poured in his distilled water. Tony looked at the kettle in absolute fascination. "I did not know they made electric kettles."

"Welcome to the real world Mister Stark." Bruce shot back with a smile that didn't quite touch his eyes.

"Banner." His boss broke in here, silently threatening, "Please just make the drinks."

Bruce nodded jerkily, and turned to his notes, pretending to take great, great care in studying them. Stark looked vaguely disappointed. "What can we do for you Mr. Stark?"

"Well, you see, I got the most wonderful love letter-" Bruce choked in his mind freezing up minutely in real life, "And it was written on your paper so I really wanted to see who wrote it, but I can't figure out who."

"A love letter?" His boss sounded slightly scandalized, "There's only males in this division."

"That's fine baby, they just have to have a good enough of a brain and I am so down with the males. Otherwise females. Because females are squishier. They scream too. And don't complain when I kick them out at two in the morning. But, this guy? I'm gonna take him home with me."

The kettle whistled sharply, and Bruce began to get up to find cups. "Where you going?"

"Cups."

His boss frowned, "Don't you have some here? I saw you with a china cup."

No. Those cups were precious. Those cups were from where he had gone on a sabbatical in-between jobs due to a breakdown in anger management issues, volunteered as a doctor, and saved a little girls life. Her parents had bought him that as a _gift_.

He wouldn't so much mind using it on Tony Stark, because a-hole or not, the man knew what was precious in life. His boss did not. He was not going to give his boss those china cups full of history.

"Sorry sir, I left them behind today." He tried to sound normal- he really did. But it came out stiff and the slightest tint of angry.

Stark blinked as his boss spluttered, and Bruce smiled all teeth and no sincerity. Discreetly he nudged the box further under his desk where no one could reach it. "Paper cups are good."

The staring contest was broken by Tony's lazy voice- then Stark suddenly frowned, glancing down at his phone. "Huh. That's odd. I'm going. I'll be back again later. Ciao!"

And just like that, Stark vanished.

Bruce heaved a sigh of relief even as he continued making that tea- he needed it now.

Because he really, really got the feeling that this wasn't the last he saw of Stark.


	3. Chapter 3

"Aren't you bored?" A heavy chin rested on his shoulder, the abject whine coming from behind him. Bruce froze, promised himself that he wasn't going to loose this job by stabbing Tony Stark through with a pen, and shook his head.

This wasn't Stark's first visit (try more like fifth) in the week since they had first originally met. It took Stark less then two hours of talking with everyone to hone back in on him, and the other scientists avoided him like the plague. Well, avoided him a little more then they usually did.

"I'm not a genius." _I left my genius brain back at home._

"Yep. And I'm not Tony Stark."

Bruce looked back down at the notes, frowning slightly. Stark's head remained on his shoulder, a warm, almost comfortable weight. "How do you figure that it's me anyways?"

"Handwriting matches for one. For another a guy roughly fitting your description was seen at the projector before that big sheet of glory was left for my greedy little fingers, and thirdly- it's natural talent I have at sniffing out geniuses. The fact that you didn't blink when I rattled off all of that information gives you props as well."

"One, handwriting matches are not considered exact, two, my profile fits many peoples, and three is not a valid point at all." Bruce calmly rebuked as he penciled in the results.

"Did I ever mention how hot it is when you know the results without even having to look at your computer?"

Bruce quietly swore deep within himself. Stark had distracted him, and he had filled out nearly an entire weeks worth of research in about two minutes. Nobody had ever made him do this before, not even the beautiful Betty Ross. "You are a bad influence."

He flipped the pencil over with the intent to erase.

Stark snatched the paper out of his hand. "So, seen the news lately?"

No. He had been far too terrified on what they would be saying to check. "No. But if you have in any way implicated me doing something I have not, I will sue you for libel."

"I don't think you could afford to sue me." Stark pointed out with amusement. "But no, your equation is being debated all across the big science news. All of the top people in radiation theory is gathering around to validate it. Even though both Reeds and Pym and I gave the okay for it."

"I- Wait, Do you mean Richard Reed, the worlds smartest man?"

"Yes that one. He and Pym are currently having a pissing fit over who's the smarter one. Pym's invading Reed's tower, and I'm knocking Pym company off of its feet. Doubt that Pym can crack Reed's room of doom- nothing can travel across it."

Stark looked smug. As he regarded the paper carefully, Bruce thoughtfully pulled in a piece of paper, and began to write random words on it- it was actually code he had developed for himself. Just incase the thought came every now and then on how to improve radiation theories. But still- "That room of Reed's- can he talk?" What was the point of a room that nothing could cross except to gloat?

"Yeah." Stark watched with a hungry look as Bruce grew even more thoughtful, scribbling out his randomized words like it was nothing.

"Then wouldn't some kind of sonic weapon work?"

Stark crowed in delight, slapping him across the back. "You got that right! I knew it was in you!"

Bruce blinked- and realized his mistake.

"I was just remembering-"

"Nope, don't even go there Bruce." Stark's phone beeped. "Gotta go!"

"I never gave you permission to call me Bruce." Banner protested weakly, almost despairingly; he could feel it, his façade break and crumble. "And I'm not that smart."

"I'll be around. And you can call me Tony then if it makes you feel better."

"It does not at all Stark, and I'd prefer it if you didn't follow me around." He had a sudden, horrible vision of Stark appearing at his peaceful little tea shop.

* * *

Tony grinned as he walked out of the building, whistling happily from where he had managed to snag Bruce's secret sheet of notes. At least, he hoped it was notes. It would look pretty bad if he stole a brainstorming sheet.

Then again, it was pretty bad that he was stealing anything at all- but it was so _frustrating_.

Seriously, the guy couldn't strut to save his life. He pulled back in on himself, hiding away from the world. It was absolutely heartbreaking to see such a smart guy whither away to nothing in his little shell.

"Stark, what are you doing?" Coulson popped up (because Coulson was scary like that and had managed to sneak up on Reed Richards without warning). At least he had the decency to call before commandeering his stuff. Like now- Coulson needed him to go sort out a little problem of his. But Tony's mind was far from that, and back to the little scientist hiding in his lab.

"I'm doing the world a favor."

"By taking over a building in radiation theory?"

"No, no, no Coulson. He's _smart_. He's really smart, he could keep up with me! He was the one who wrote that equation which can be used to determine how fast an element can kill you depending on body weight. For any element- including the harmless ones, because it just equates out to zero, and it's beautiful Coulson."

Coulson stared at him for a moment, a tiny furrow appearing between his eyebrows. "You like him."

"I'm going to dig that big beautiful brain of his out from storage, then take it to Stark Towers to keep in a little jar with glowing green liquid and it can act as my minion. Wait, I've already got a minion."

Tony frowned for a moment, before shrugging. "I got notes though! Secret, coded notes! Oh, and I left my phone number. Private phone number."

Right on cue, his phone rang. Tony grinned wildly as he flicked it onto speakerphone. "Stark, did you just steal a piece of paper off of my table?"

"If I did? It doesn't seem like to me that it was that important." Then Tony Stark _grinned _like a little child, bubbling delight, because he was out to shock Coulson this day. "Why, do you want to come over to my place and we can discuss it like reasonable adults."

"I am _not _that person." The voice on the other end hissed, "Fine, keep the paper!"

On the other end there was a shattering crash. A horrible, awful silence fell on the other end. "You shattered my tea set." The soft hiss was deadly in its quietness. Tony's head tilted towards the phone as he attempted to hear. There was a laugh in the background, and Tony's heart clenched-

And then there was a roar of anger, and the sound of even more breaking things, and the screams of terrified peons screaming, "HE FLIPPED! HE FLIPPED! RUN!"

"Coulson, I'm going back."

"Tony, wait, you shouldn't- it's too dangerous-"

Ignoring the man, Tony darted in the direction of building. Coulson watched him go, before picking up his phone, "Fury? No, I didn't manage to get him, but I did manage to find someone that he's been studying himself. I'll be conducting a search of my own on the man."

Everyone knew just how horrible Tony's judge of character was.

* * *

His teashop was being invaded. Bruce dithered outside of the shop for a few seconds, trying to decide whether or not loosing his job because of a fit he had thrown over a broken tea set was reason enough to treat himself.

Yes, yes it was, and he was going to hurt anyone who suggested otherwise. It had been far too easy to slip out of the hospital (brought in by a rich guy, and with a bit of sinking heart Bruce knew he was never going to see Tony Stark again, which didn't make sense because he should be happy about it), gather all of his stuff (his bosses words were still ringing in his ears but went unnoticed in lieu of his broken tea set) and go back to the streets.

_I hate this city. Maybe I should volunteer again for doctor duty. Get my life back in order. Go to India this time._

Bruce hitched his bag of stuff higher on his shoulder, felt papers crinkle, the broken shards shift and poke, the few knick-knacks twist and turn. Slowly he stepped into the shop, and felt nearly a hundred eyes fall on him.

He ignored them all as he walked up to the counter, falling into Chinese, "Mr. Fong."

"Welcome back child."

"May I use the green room?"

The green room was the meditation room; used only by those Mr. Fong approved. Mr. Fong looked him up and down, over the newspaper he insisted on reading, "Another lost job?"

Bruce smiled bitterly and shrugged. "They broke it. My tea set."

Mr. Fong carefully laid down the newspaper, hands held flat out. Bruce carefully handed over the set. It was a cheap little thing- but expensive to that family, and there were hundreds of memories wrapped up among it.

The old man's teeth clicked sympathetically. "Go. I will bring the tea. The strongest tea we have."

"Thank you."

Bruce disappeared into the back.

An dark-suited man stood up to follow him- Mr. Fong didn't even look at him as he held up a hand. "Nobody is allowed in the Green Room unless they pass my test and I'm certain they can appreciate the room."

The man ignored him, attempting to pass by- before he could even blink he was flat on his back, drooling. "I said none may pass."

Mr. Fong looked up to survey the entire room. "Anyone else may try if they like."

* * *

Coulson entered the room to find several of his best agents down by newspaper. Chopsticks had disabled a few more, and there was a potted plant sitting on the chest of another agent. It wasn't even missing a leaf.

This guy was _good_. "Excuse me?"

"None may enter the Green Room unless I deem them worthy enough." The rest of the newspaper was in the old man's hand. A steaming cup of tea sat by his elbow. "Are you going to tase me?"

"I was thinking about it." Coulson admitted, surveying the room. He could see forty different weapons, but only fifteen of them were within reach, and only ten of those had a chance of actually working.

"Hmm. He should be out soon. Until then, clean up your people please. I'm an old man. My bones hurt."

Coulson nodded, and obligingly ordered his men out. Sheepishly, they were collected and left until it was just two men in the room.

Mr. Fong regarded him seriously for a few moments. "You look like you could use a cup of tea. Mister Banner should be out in a few seconds."

Coulson was soon settled with tea, and secured at a small table. And just like he was promised, Banner emerged from the room shortly after.

"Bruce Banner?"

The man turned in his direction, looking calmer and more at peace then when he had entered the room an hour before. "Yes, may I help you?"

"Can we chat?"

Bruce glanced around the room suspiciously. Mr. Fong sipped from his cup- Coulson remained studiously blank-faced despite the threat to his crown jewels. "It's just a chat. About Tony Stark."

Wariness filtered in through his body language. "Stark? He's been coming around to bug us all-"

"You actually. He's determined that you're the one that sent him that paper with all of those scribbles."

"Well I'm not." Bruce snapped back. Mr. Fong placed his chopsticks to the side. Coulson shifted his tea cup- threat received, and shields in place. "And I don't know why he's determined it be me. If you go over my grades, then you'll see that I was no genius."

"They say that Einstein failed math classes."

"That's a lie. If you must know, Einstein was pulled out of school because he was so smart. I doubt he wishes to meet with me anymore, due to finding about my anger issues." A bitter smile appeared on Bruce's face. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have packing to do."

Coulson wondered if he should warn Bruce that Stark was parked outside of his house in a big, fancy Lamborghini- the thought was dashed from his mind as a chopstick bounced off of the metal chair. Bruce ducked out in that second, lost to his interference.

His own hand flicked, letting a similar chopstick bury itself into the wood paneling next to Mr. Fong's head. Mr. Fong smiled, wintry and old. "Leave now. Never come back."

Coulson nodded. "Yes."

The two parted ways, destined to never see each other again.


	4. Chapter 4

Bruce stopped dead a block from his small house. There was a car that was obviously, studiously rich, attracting attention from the entire neighborhood. What happened to his private life?

Oh, it had gone up in smoke around the same time Stark had started invading his life.

Ruthlessly he ignored the warm fuzzy notion of someone caring enough to actually drop by his place to see if he was alright. Nobody had ever done that in his entire life. Wait, focus Banner.

Bruce hitched his bag further up on his shoulder- he had bought the house, but he had decided- he was going to sell, move to India, and never come out into the real world again. Anything would be better then what was going on now.

The universe waggled its eyebrows and got prepared to zap him, when Tony Stark's self-made luck chased it away. "Yo, Bruce! There you are!"

"I'm leaving." _As soon as I get my notes and burn them all._

"I didn't go inside- Pepper assured me if I did that would be breaking and entering and I'd never get rid of the mark on my record. Not that anyone's happy with me anyways." Tony flapped a hand at him, and Bruce sighed heavily.

"I'm not going to get rid of you, am I?"

"Nope!" Tony grinned widely as he followed Bruce up the small driveway to where his house sat. "Now then, may I please be invited in without a threat of a lawsuit? By the way, did anyone tell you how hot you are when you're angry?"

Bruce ignored the flirting to unlock the door and push it open.

Somebody had been here. It looked mostly untouched, but he always left his teacup in the middle of the table to keep himself from dumping all of his papers without care. And to remind himself to clean up.

It was moved, off center. His eyes scanned the rest of the room, magazines out of order, and small marks that indicated someone had gone through the room looking for something important.

Tony bumped into his shoulder, looking confused. "Something the matter?"

"Someone went through my stuff." Bruce snapped back, voice completely flat.

"What?"

"My stuff is moved. I don't know how, but it has to be connected to you. So, just out." Bruce glanced around again, shoulders slumping.

Tony glanced past his shoulder, eyes sweeping the living room, "They messed with your filing system, didn't they?"

Bruce blinked at the anger in his voice, a low, angry growl. "I'll admit, I've been poking and teasing you, but you don't attempt to break into people's houses with the intent to steal their research. That's wrong."

Iron Man was created to pull out Stark Weapons after they were stolen.

"Yeah. It doesn't look like they found anything of worth."

He was very good at hiding his notes- The little scratches and words would hold no meaning to any but himself. He held nothing of importance here. Tony wandered in from behind him, glancing around the room.

Bruce dumped his bag next to the table. "Is there a reason why you're here?"

"Just wanted to see if there was anything I could do about your tea set. It seemed important, and I don't think I've ever seen anyone get angry as spectacularly as you do. Your new nickname should be the Hulk."

"I-I don't know what to say to that, other then I really don't like that name." In another universe, Hulk sneezed.

Tony shrugged as he dragged out a wide clear Starktablet. Bruce's fingers twitched in the want to touch as Tony pressed his thumb against the screen, and leaned on one arm to stare at it.

He proceeded to play Angry Birds on it. Bruce shook his head as he pulled out the broken pieces of his tea set, and placed them on the table. "I don't know why you keep coming around. By now most people give up."

"Most people aren't me. It isn't often I find a genius willing enough to get his head out of his own rear enough to go to my expos. I doubt you saw anything real surprising there, but it's nice you know."

"I'm not a genius."

"Why do you keep saying that? You act like it's wrong to be smart."

_An angry fist pummeling him, words lifted in anger and a shriek of pain._

"Being a genius hurts. Better to be ignored and normal." Bruce mumbled back, staring down at the broken pieces in his hand. He couldn't piece them back together. He wasn't a fixer. Everything in his hands just fell apart.

Tony's mouth opened, as if to say something, when his cell-phone beeped. Carelessly he left the tablet on the table, answering the phone, "Hello, you have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark-"

"Stark, suit up and come out to these coordinates. We have a situation."

"What-"

"The Tesseract was stolen, and we need you to track it. Reed and Pym are too busy."

Tony winced, looking the slightest bit guilty. Bruce wondered what exactly the man had done to the two to set them off. "Right. I'll be there."

The billionaire pulled himself to his feet, and walked right out of the room- _leaving his tablet behind_.

"Stark- wait-"

"Gotta go baby, we'll meet again!" Stark took off in his fancy car with Bruce frantically gesturing towards the forgotten tablet still playing Angry Birds. Too late- Stark was gone. Bruce slowly walked back into the house to sit down at the table.

Bruce stared at the tablet- it solemnly stared back. His brain moaned in fear. Carefully, and delicately as if it were a flower, Bruce moved it from the table into the trashcan.

If Stark wanted it back, then he'd have to come searching. He had work to do on gamma radiation.

* * *

It wasn't often that he was stumped. It wasn't often that he had no idea where to even begin… this was one of those times.

"Track this. How do you want me to track this? The only thing remotely traceable would be the gamma radiation, and even that is too faint to track." Stark glowered at the information on the computer, feet propped on the nearest table.

Fury glowered at him in that one-eye way of his. "It's important Stark."

"Let me call Reed and Pym. They at least have an idea on what radiation is- I only took a crash course with the palladium."

Tony reached for his tablet- and realized it wasn't there. That's right, he'd left it behind in Bruce's place. Fine then. He'd just have to commandeer another computer and let Jarvis take over that. "Jarvis, get Reed and Pym on the main screen."

The screen flickered, and then Sue Richards appeared on screen. "Hello Tony. I'm afraid Reed can't come right now. He and Pym are a little busy."

"I got some new problem solving for them to do."

Two heads appeared on screen, speaking in unison. "What is it?"

"Radiation. Tracking. Think you can do it?"

The two of them stared at the screen thoughtfully, reading the information at high speeds. "Probably." Reed murmured at last, "It will take a week however. Or a little longer."

"Don't have a week. We need it within the next few days."

Pym shrugged, "There's no Pym Particles, so I don't really care."

Reed snorted, withdrawing from the screen. Pym flipped him off. A rubber arm missed smacking the man that quickly shrunk to avoid it. Sue groaned.

Tony stark flipped off the communication line. "Hmmm, I wonder who I should try next."

_Bruce time, Bruce time! Yay!_ He really liked Bruce. The man was smart, and the paper he was only a quarter way of decoding was nothing short of brilliant. The only problem was getting him _out_ of that shell he had built for himself.

Never hurt to try.

The tablet now half-way across the world began to beep and ring shrilly, playing, _Baby won't you please answer me_. Across the world, Bruce Banner jumped to turn to look at the tablet in his wicker trashcan, saw the light flashing out through the spaces.

He stared at it narrow eyed.

Tony grinned as he remotely answered the call- to stare at the inside of a trashcan. "BRUCE! YOU DUMPED MY TECH IN A TRASHCAN!"

Faintly, he could hear a sniff as curious Shield agents wandered closer. "I figured it was my right with the way my life is going."

"There had better not be any food on this."

"Not at all. I took out my trash this morning. Before I got fired."

"Oh. Right. Look, Bruce, I know you're still clinging to the self-delusion of not being smart-"

The screen shifted as Bruce deigned to pick him up. "Nothing self-delusional about it."

"Yeah. Riiight. Look sweetheart, let's say you were the one who wrote me that love letter. Hypothetically speaking, you should also be well versed in radiation signatures."

On screen, Bruce stilled, a tiny furrow beginning to appear in-between his brows. Tony wanted to reach out and poke it- that was a furrow of thinking, a furrow that never appeared when Bruce was doing his assigned research, only when Tony told him a new and amazing invention. The furrow disappeared when Bruce figured it out.

Then came the very pretty light that Tony liked very much, and he needed his mind back on his work now thank you-

"And hypothetically speaking if you're well versed in radiation signatures, you should be able to track down a hypothetically stolen item."

Bruce's lips pursed. "Hypothetically speaking, what kind of radiation am I looking at?"

"Shall I send you a list?"

Bruce's eyes lit up like a little kid in a candy store when the information began to scroll across the screen. Tony Stark felt something warm and fuzzy in his stomach- it must've been the lack of alcohol getting to him. "Sooo?"

"Hypothetically speaking, tracking the gamma radiation would be the best. The other radians are fluctuating too much to be of any use. While the gamma is faint, it's at the very least stable. It'll wreck havoc with most instruments unless you calibrate them for gamma though."

Bruce shrugged on screen, eyes still distant and fixed on something only he could see. "But- you'd have to get all the spectrometers in the world set up, calibrated for gamma, and then a tracking algorithm is real easy to rough out. It'd take nearly an entire day to track it down, but it can be done."

He paused for a moment, before adding, "Hypothetically speaking of course."

"Then can you and your hypothetical tracking algorithm get started working? I'll take us somewhere private." Tony hauled himself to his feet, snapping, "Jarvis, put it on a secure line, send it to my phone. I'll have you transfer to another screen. Fury, tell every major institution across the world to set up spectrometers calibrated for Gamma Radiation. We're tracking down the Tesseract."

Bruce frantically attempted to backpedal, "I'm not-"

"Shut up. Not listening to this self-effacing crap. You're helping me out here, and then I'm taking you to Stark Tower where your little science mind can drool with happiness and I have access to your notes in the shower."

"You keep saying that but-"

"Oh, I've already done your original several times. But I am a greedy man, so I want more." Tony shrugged carelessly as he moved into the lab he decided would be enough, and glanced at Loki's staff sitting innocently in the corner.

Bruce hummed softly, looking distant and just a tad bit hesitant. "I don't know if I should."

"Oh for goodness sakes, do it, for me?"

"You? Mister interrupt my job-"

"You loved every minute of it, don't you dare lie. Look, I'll even make Shield stay off your back now! Just… Don't go vanishing on me, okay? Just help us out here; for the sake of the world."

"Hypothetically the world?"

"If that's what floats your boat." Tony shrugged, and Bruce hesitated for a second longer, looking torn.

"C'mon Bruce! Help me out here would you?"

Bruce ran a distracted hand through graying hair, thoughtful and quiet. Stark was quiet for once, waiting for the answer. Bruce sighed, "Fine. I'm starting. Do we have a baseline reading for the Tesseract?"

"Only what we got here."

"Huh, Gamma radiation it will have to be. How goes the spectrometer situation?"

"It's coming in. What re you going to do next?"

"Break down the radiation to its base pattern. It should take a few hours, but because we don't have any baseline readings, I'll have to create my own."

"Will it work?"

"Of course. I've done this before. Sent off mail emitting gamma radiation- I made sure that it was properly disposed of."

"Ah."

"Short bursts of the radiation isn't bad, it's a lot like sunlight. Just with a higher chance of killing you."


	5. Chapter 5

That was how they were found several hours later, arguing over whether or not gamma bombs could be considered. Or at least, kind of arguing. Tony fired off at a hundred words per minute, Bruce made small noises every now and then, and together they broke all the laws of science.

At least, that's what it looked like to a lay viewer as they watched the two argue, with numbers flashing back and forth fast, hard furious, and then Bruce suddenly paused. "Wait, Tony, sic cos tan to the fifth? Wouldn't it be better to do it on the tan? Unless- what happens if we curve it? Oh, I like that shape a lot."

Stark squirmed slightly under the table, smiling brilliantly as gritted his teeth against the sudden, crashing wave of lust. "You know this is all being saved, right?"

"It's just a tracking algorithm." Bruce protested.

"No, no, I meant for me personally."

Bruce gave him the oddest look, "You know- I thought you were just joking about taking the notes to the shower."

He hadn't. He hadn't been joking at _all_. Jarvis had complained about it actually, as had Pepper when he had been late for a meeting. Because while it was morbid to see your own death written out in numbers, it was also gorgeous in the cool hard practicality.

"Tracking algorithm is done." Bruce announced idly, hands slowly withdrawing from the tablet. Tony desperately searched for an idea to keep him on, anything to keep him from going insane among a bunch of idiots who didn't know one end of the equation from the other.

Bruce pulled himself out of his seat.

"Where you going?"

"Collecting my things. From the sounds of it, there's going to be a battle, and they're going to need doctors." Bruce shrugged with one shoulder, "I want to be there and ready."

Warmth for Bruce's concern battled with worry for Bruce. He was just one little scientist, and a big brain was usually no match for fists.

"But you can't leave yet! You still haven't asked for your reward!" Tony whined, making grabby motions to the monitor. He wanted Bruce right next to him, because it would take the algorithm another hour to pinpoint the tesseract location- and there was a _lot_ one could do in an hour.

"Reward?" Bruce pulled a face, "The Universe not to conspire against me to make my life worse? That would be nice."

"Yep. But seriously, you don't want anything at all-"

"STARK!"

The sharp yelp came from another screen, as Hank Pym appeared. He was riding a flying ant, and seemed to be dodging a giant hand. Bruce made a little noise, instantly recognizing him, "We were wondering if you've made any headway on your problem."

"Tracking algorithm locked and loaded." Tony grinned smugly at the flabbergasted expression, jerking a thumb over his shoulder to the other screen where Bruce waited. The screen was now filled with equations, and Hank squinted to try and read them.

Reed shrank down to fit inside the screen, "May I see?"

"Dunno, you'll have to ask the one who created it. How about it Bruce, do you want Dr. Reed Richards to look over your work?"

"I-Yes?" He sounded nervous but a little excited; Tony scowled. Why did Reed get hero worshiped from the beginning when he didn't?

"Thank you."

"Wow Stark, he's so much more polite then you."

Oh, polite? Really?

Tony scoffed, "Don't let his gentle exterior fool you. He and Pym are in the middle of a bitch fight right now. They're only stopping because both of them are trying to buy time for what they plan on hitting each other next."

"Watch it Stark, I'm going to blow you out of the water." Pym threatened. "My company is still two points ahead of yours."

"It won't once you and Reed finally drop your fight in the next few months. After all, I'm going to be the one with two geniuses on my team."

"You mean half a genius." Pym snapped back lazily. "This algorithm isn't half-bad. So that would be the half-genius. You're just crazy Stark."

"You wound me Hank. I still build better robots then you." There was a long moment of silence as Pym seemed to weigh his options.

"I've decided Stark- the second I'm done with Reed, I'm coming after you."

"Oooh, is that a threat Ant-man? Or is it Giant-man? Which one are you today?"

"Ant man. I'm trying to decide whether it's worth getting small enough to slip in through Reed's skin and choke him. He'd just stretch around me though-"

Tony wolf-whistled, cheering, "You finally got it on then?"

Bruce buried a red face in his hands.

Pym blinked, and Reed looked the slightest bit confused. Sue dropped in from nowhere screaming, "OUT! OUT! YOU CAN'T HAVE HIM! HE'S MY HUSBAND!"

"I- that didn't come out right- wait, Stark, you son of a bi-"

Tony howled with laughter as the screen flicked off, and Bruce's shoulders shook with silent laughter. "You- You are a horrible, _horrible_ person."

"And you love it, just admit it."

"I do." Bruce murmured loud enough for Tony to hear, "Heavens help me, I do." The fond, exasperated look on his face made the cold metal of Tony's heart hum softly and happily.

"So… uhh, anything you want?"

"I- I would like to know what element you're using if not palladium."

"Haven't really named it yet, but sure. Here, information. You can figure out whether or not it's poisonous."

Bruce glanced across the information- "How does it integrate with your body? It may speed up the process actually."

Tony allowed the hard knot of worry within him to ease, as he laughed, "How about I give you my private one-of-a-kind tour of an arc reactor part one? Part two is when we get hands on."

"Just how hands on?"

"With you? _Very_."

Tony leered inappropriately, leaning forward into the screen- as the doors burst open behind him.

"Stark! Nick Fury came striding into the room, a whoosh of agitated coat, Coulson trotting at his heels, pinching the bridge of his nose. Maria Hill looked triumphant.

"Daddy, don't tell me you're leaving mommy for that other woman!"

There was a long moment as Fury's face struggled to remain calm, before the man at last growled, "I'll ignore that. What I want to know is why we have a civilian, who isn't cleared, working on locating the Tesseract?"

"Because he's smarter then you." Tony sniped back.

Bruce blinked, watching them as they argued, until Coulson said, "I had his house searched, and nothing of importance came up. At least not note wise- but I did find interesting notes from his off-and-on psychologist Leonard."

Bruce froze, heart pounding a mile a minute. "He's shown to have anger management issues, and perhaps multiple personality disorder. He's considered dangerous-"

"Only to myself." Bruce said calmly. All heads in the screen turned to him, as Tony felt the hard knot within tighten in fear. "I was on suicide watch for a few days after I tried to drink down eighteen pills."

Tony's heart broke at that idea. Never meeting Bruce? Never being able to laugh and tease him? Not cool.

A long, awkward silence fell. Then Bruce shrugged. "I know I haven't done anything publicly worthy of having my house broken into and my notes stolen- but I have a lot of work unpublished."

"I want!" Tony instantly leapt on the words. "If they're half as good as what we've got here, then I want."

"Stark, this isn't wise." Fury repeated calmly, "He's a civilian, and not stable."

"Look Fury, our tracking algorithm is _done_. We've done what you wanted, and _Bruce_ did it in less time the Richards could have. Ask the man yourself if you see him. Now go away."

Bruce nodded slightly, defensively- then Captain America (_the_ Captain America) stepped into the room, and everything degraded from there.

* * *

Bruce was in the middle of trying to decide what subsonic sound wave would manage to restart the Arc Reactor if it ever failed when the explosion rocked the other room.

Bruce glanced up with a start, as Tony swore from where he had been arguing with Captain America. Bruce was doing his best to keep out of any and all pissing matches, and figuring out the arc reactor was always a good way to do things. Especially since he had a personal, vested interest in whether or not the program would do its job and locate the glowing blue cube.

The program dinged for a moment, alerting him to the fact that the tracking was done- "The tracking is done- the Cube is located at-"

Another explosion rocked the screen, making it go completely blank. For a long few minutes Bruce stared at it, his chest seizing up with fear. Stark Tower. The cube was at _Stark_ Tower.

He stared at the tablet- "Jarvis?" He didn't know if the AI could even register him, if it would acknowledge him, but it was the best he could do.

The tablet flickered, shuttered, and booted up slowly. "May I help you?"

"Tell Stark as soon as possible that the Tesseract is located at Stark Towers. I'm heading out."

Bruce stood, leaving the tablet behind. He threw together everything he could possibly need; "Medical supplies, some money, bandages, clean clothes, they can be used as makeshift bandages, some instruments, though if I have to use clothes as bandages then I know that I'm screwed and it won't be of much use-"

He glanced down at his full bag, and took a deep breath. Stark Towers was a good three to four hours away by the single scooter he had- He needed to get moving. Bruce shouldered his bag, and hesitated, fingers hovering over the tablet.

If he brought it along and it got broken, it would be worth more then his entire life. Fate hovered in the corner, tempting him. If he left it behind, it would be stolen. So-

He stuffed the tablet in his bag, wrapped it in his extra clothes and carefully secured it on the old scooter. It was time to go.


	6. Chapter 6

The battle was brutal. Bruce had lost count of how many times Spiderman swung by, shouting and screaming at the monsters, or how Hank Pym was gleefully taking count, or how Reed and Sue were obviously not talking to each other.

It niggled at him, a quiet little bit of mournfulness that he had caused such a split. But- well, they started talking again when Reed was nearly bit in half by one of the giant snake things, so Bruce took it as a good sign.

He slipped among the rubble, completely forgotten as he urged people to their feet, dragging them to areas where hopefully they could be safe. Up in the Stark building, a shining, glowing portal flashed and shone.

Then, Iron Man rocketed past him, holding onto a nuclear bomb. Every particle of Bruce froze up, as he could see it now, _A giant green monster roaring and screaming, the sound of grenades as they popped off, the low roar of a man in pain, a child's desperate terrified screams, the bright flash of something with too much force, anger and hatred, pain, no darkness only light_

Then, it was over, leaving him breathless and terrified as Iron Man disappeared through the portal. _I have to find him._ Feet propelled him along the road, though he didn't know what he could do. It wasn't like he could catch him.

The portal flashed, began to close, and then Iron Man began to fall. _He can't stop himself._

The knowledge let fear lend wings to his feet as he scrambled over a disabled alien, towards the portal. Spiderman swung by, heading for Iron Man as Thor took to the skies. Bruce stared up at the figure, wondering what it was that disabled the suit- or if Tony's arc reactor was still working.

He considered that world for a second, a world without Tony Stark.

No more crazy inventions being teased and tantalizingly dangled in front of his nose, no more points that jumped his own research, no more crazy smile and a smooth voice that clocked a mile a minute.

No more glints of a smile as he said something that teased Stark back of his supposed genius, unable to help himself, flash of whites as sun gleamed off of that mouth, the rough goatee… what was he thinking?

"I am insane to come to this realization in the middle of a war!" Bruce yelled to the world, the world patted him on the head. Then it kicked him in the rear because the world is like that.

He pulled himself up over the edge of the rubble to find Spiderman panicking as Captain America crouched next to the prone body of Iron Man. The reactor wasn't glowing.

Bruce reacted instantly, moving quickly to Stark's side- he had roughly two minutes before the metal shards in Stark's heart worked their way through, permanently killing the man. He pulled out Starktablet, and tore it apart, pulling out wires.

Spiderman turned towards him as he knelt next to Stark, attaching wires to the core, and attaching them to the shield. "You can't be planning on using that as a kick start unit-"

"No, the electricity would just burn him, nothing more. Plus we have no way of checking to see the amperage or voltage. So no, we'll be going by concussion. Thor- hit the shield."

"I do not understand." The tall blond man complained, even as he geared up for a strong swing, "How will this help?"

The hammer fell, and Bruce shrugged, "The element Stark has in his core runs on vibrations. It's man-made, not naturally occurring, so the vibrations should transfer itself from the shield to the core, and kick start it enough to restart."

The hammer hit shield, and ears rung for one solemn moment. Stark's eyes flew open, "Nobody kissed me, right?"

Captain America sat among the dust and rubble, the world's first and greatest superhero, and laughed. He sat and laughed, before looking up at Thor. "He's alive."

"No seriously, nobody had better of kissed me."

Spiderman leaned over to consolingly pat Iron Man on the shoulder, "Don't worry, we won't kiss and tell."

* * *

"Who does that?"

Pepper Potts, the ultimate woman of power, ignored her top employee/major man/whatever he was calling himself that day, to concentrate on her paperwork. "Who rescues someone's life- someone who happens to be a billionaire and can give them whatever they wanted in the world, and then just vanishes off to India?"

Tony Stark was throwing a temper tantrum (not that hard to believe) over his dearly missing beloved doctor.

Pepper would be jealous if it weren't for the fact that she and Tony had an understanding- if Tony was with a man, then she could watch. If the other man couldn't deal with it, then he swiftly got booted out, because Tony may have been an idiot, but he was a loyal man once you sank your way deep enough into his heart.

Pepper was a loyal woman as well, and she didn't like the way Tony had disappeared for several hours over this man. "Bruce Banner, right?"

Tony twisted to look, before slumping into a chair. "Yep. He broke my tablet, handed over his research to repay it, and then vanished. To India. Did I mention he sold his house? And he lost his job?"

"Hmm, Mr. Stark, please sign these papers."

Tony signed them without looking at them- he trusted Pepper. "Tony, please appear at the airport tomorrow at twelve hundred hours. There will be a jet waiting for you. You will greet the person disembarking, and take care of them."

"Wha-"

"Don't argue Tony. Besides, it will be a surprise."

Pepper picked up her clipboard and strode out without a backwards look to where a waiting jet took her across the ocean to where a man busied himself among the slums, taking care of those too sick to afford it.

"Doctor Banner?"

He looked startled to see her there, prim and proper surrounded by filth and muck. He stood up, attempting to wipe off his hands as he attempted a hesitant smile. "May I help you ma'm?" He was polite- unlike most of Tony's conquests.

Her lips pursed in response as she regarded him for a long second. "Yes. You broke Stark equipment, a highly experimental Starktablet."

He blinked, panic beginning to rise. "I left behind enough to counter the cost-"

"No, no, no. There's a contract for those. Anyone who uses them must sign the contract, or imply they have signed the contract. Otherwise you'd have stolen the tablet."

Bruce's mouth, beginning to open in protest, closed, a faintly uneasy look crossing his face. "That is why, per contract agreement, I am having you moved to Stark Property. You will begin working there under the discretion of your new boss which I will be assigning you."

He had a slightly foggy look in his eyes as he attempted to process everything, "You have one hour before your one plane ride provided leaves country. Pack whatever you need or want, and everything else will be provided when needed."

He stared at her, for a moment, blinking. She stared at him back levelly with a look that made most corporate board members run screaming for the hills- and some billionaire geniuses. Never let it be said that Reed and Pym when they visited could walk over her.

"Are you moving?"

"I- Yes ma'm."

* * *

Bruce disembarked off the plane, still trying to figure out what was going on. This was crazy. Insane.

What had just _happened_ to him? One minute in India, the next stumbling down off a plane ramp while staring at _Tony Stark_ lazily leaning against a limousine and _no_.

He contemplated briefly running back onto the plane and refusing to get off until they took him back to India, because he wasn't ready to face Stark. Just not ready.

He looked desperately around, seeking an avenue of escape. Stark on the other hand looked up through his sunglasses, and if Bruce had been looking, he'd have seen the fierce, sudden joy on Stark's face, quickly covered up by an easy smile that had a touch of real joy to it.

"Welcome back to the states Bruce."

"I-I'm not sure what happened, but you're apparently my boss now?"

If that was what Bruce believed, let it be far from Tony to disabuse him of that notion. "Yep. Welcome to Stark Company. Ready for the tour?"

Bruce regarded him for a long moment, all thoughts hidden behind his calm façade, eyes giving nothing away. Tony stood straight, and willed him to find nothing lacking. "Seriously though Bruce- If you want to go back, you can. I just figured that you might enjoy it more being able to work with equipment that's state of the art, and not hide that genius little brain of yours-"

Bruce ran a hand through his hair. "I'm going to regret this." Tony grinned hopefully, "But, yes, I'd like to work with you. Just a warning though- I have rage issues."

"And I have ego issues." Tony waved a hand. "It'll be interesting to see what makes you mad." As he talked he flipped out a pen, and poked Bruce in the side- Bruce jumped in pained surprise, but there was no flash of anger in his face. "Huh. It looks like you got a handle on it."

Bruce's flatly unimpressed look made Tony laugh, a deep, rolling laugh from the gut. "I think you'll do just fine with me."

Tony Stark didn't know everything about Bruce- didn't know why he had chosen to hide his genius rather then flaunt it, didn't know why Bruce had anger issues- But as Bruce followed him like a little lost puppy dog, he did know something-

Nothing was going to keep them apart.

-end-


End file.
